In the last tutorial[1] we turned out all the lights on our image and we were left with a dark/night version of our photo (similar to that shown below).

In this second part of the tutorial we will be adding the stars to the sky and some lighting effects for the street lamps/lights.

Let’s get started!

Creating the stars in the sky

To create the stars in the sky, we’re going to need two new layers. One layer will be made to be brighter than the other so that the stars will seem smaller/duller in some places and larger/brighter in other places.

Let’s create our first New Layer by clicking on the following icon at the bottom of the Layers Pallet:

You should now see your New Layer in the Layers Pallet and it will look like the one shown below.

Now we are going to use the Brush Tool to create the stars in the sky.

First click on the Brush Tool in your Tools Pallet:

SETTING THE COLOR OF THE BRUSH

We now want to set the color of the Brush Tool to white. If you’re not sure how to change the color of your brush, have a look towards the bottom of your Tools Pallet and you will see two squares. Set the top left square to white as shown below.

CONFIGURING THE BRUSH TOOL

We want to set the stars in the sky to be of different sizes, so for our first New Layer, we will create stars of two different sizes and paint them in the sky. For the second New Layer, we will create stars of two different sizes again so in all we will be using four different sizes for a more realistic effect.

Let’s setup the basic settings for our Brush Tool.

First click on the brush settings icon which should be located to the top of your screen and look something like this.

Select the icon with blurred effect as shown below. This will ensure that the stars won’t be harsh dots on the screen, but rather have a smooth fade-out effect around them.

Your Hardness should now be on 0%.

The size of your Brush will depend on the size and resolution of your photo, but this is where you can be creative and choose how you want your stars to look. I recommend placing some around the sky using a real small “dot” effect and then some others using a slightly larger setting, as shown in the image below.

Once you have selected your size setting, start painting some stars in the sky simply by left-clicking the mouse button once in the place where you want the star to be.

Now let’s create our second New Layer for painting the second lot of stars.

Click on the following icon at the bottom of the Layers Pallet:

You should now see your New Layer in the Layers Pallet and it will look like the one shown below.

Now go back to the settings of your Brush Tool by click on the following icon:

Select a small Brush size for painting your stars, and add some more around the sky.

Now change the size settings again (a little smaller or larger) and add a few more around the sky. As you can see in my image below, the sky is now full of stars. I have placed the larger stars (which look a little unrealistic) on the second layer because we will be adjusting this layer next so it won’t be as bright as the first layer of stars.

We are now going to adjust the Opacity of the second New Layer so that the stars appear a little dimmer than the stars on the first New Layer. To do this, click on the second New Layer in the Layer Pallet.

Now change the Opacity to about 30, as shown below.

Play around with Opacity setting and select the one that you think looks best. If you would like the stars to be brighter than the ones I’ve created you need to select a higher Opacity setting. Using the settings I have chosen, the image will look something like the one shown below.

We’re almost done. Now for the final little artistic effect… Turning on the street lights!

Adding lighting effect

To add the lighting effect, we’re going to use the Brush Tool to paint a yellowish white color over the street lamps to the left of the image. Most likely, you won’t have the exact same type of lamps or street lights that I have in this image, but you can use this effect for most lights outside.

Click on the following icon at the bottom of the Layers Pallet to create a New Layer for the lighting:

Now click on the Brush Tool in your Tools Pallet (the Brush Tool is shown below).

We now want to set the colour of the Brush Tool to a yellowish white color. Double click on the top left square color box in your Tool Pallet (as shown below).

Now set you color to a yellowish white, like the one below.

Now we want to configure the Brush Settings to create the bright light bulb effect in the street light. For this we’re going to use a small brush size, about the size of the lamplight in your photo (just a little bigger). Set your Brush size by clicking on the following icon toward the top of your screen (whilst having the Brush Tool selected).

Select the icon with a blurred effect, as shown below.

The brush size I will be using is about the size shown below.

Select your New Layer to work on by clicking on it in the Layer Panel:

Now draw two paint dots by left-clicking the mouse button once where the street light bulbs would be, as shown below.

In order to create the glow around the street lights, we want to have a bigger Brush size, similar to the size below, and we want it to be less bright than those we just created. Click on your Brush settings icon:

Set a width similar to the one shown below.

Now, as this is only a GLOW (we don’t want it to be as bright as the actual lights), change the brightness of your light by changing the Opacity to about 30%, as shown below.

Now draw two paint dots by left clicking the mouse button over the street lamps, as shown below.

You may want to dim the whole lighting effect a little by changing the Opacity of the whole layer. To do this, click on the third New Layer we created for the lights and change the Opacity as shown below.

Your image should now look like this:

And now, for the final effect, you may want to add a little bit of ground lighting as well to make it look like the ground where the lights/lamps are located is lit up.

To do this, use the Brush Tool (using the same settings as we did for the glow) but this time change the Opacity right down to around 15%-20%.

Now hold the left mouse button down and paint over the ground below the lights (in this case, we have a river, so I’m going to draw over the river).